Five adults working out of a makeshift conference room in a Pointe-Claire office building are part of a vital link in the ongoing battle to end the coronavirus pandemic.
The group of workers who are intellectually challenged or autistic assemble thousands of COVID-19 diagnostic testing kits for the West Island regional health board, the CIUSSS l’Ouest-de-l’île.
Their productivity rate is enough to fill almost any manufacturer on the assembly line with envy.
Collectively, they produce 8,000 to 12,000 a week while their quota set by the local health board requires 7,000 a week.
“I’d say, I’m really focused and I’m really, like, in my zone when I’m doing the test kits,” Jed-Clyde Bermillo, one of the COVID-19 test kit assembly workers told Global News.
The group has been doing this since last year. They started at the old veteran’s hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue but were transferred to an office on Cartier Avenue in Pointe-Claire in December after a COVID-19 outbreak at the hospital.
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The move didn’t slow down their work nor dampen their spirits about the job they do.
“It’s really good, we can help people when there’s COVID,” Zoe Chalkovsi, another COVID-19 test kit assembly worker said.
There are four diagnostic screening centres on the territory of the CIUSSS l’Ouest-de-l’île and all COVID-19 testing kits are provided by the group of five in Pointe-Claire.
“I’m so proud of them. They’re so awesome. It’s just such an amazing contribution,” Janice Bicher-Jarvis, the CIUSSS l’Ouest-de-l’île rehabilitation manager, told Global News.
The work they do is critical in the ongoing battle to curb the transmission of the virus.
Lena Baldoni has made postcards and posters for front-line health workers. “This postcard is for the thank-you for the heroes,” Baldoni told Global News.
Even as they thank others, this group too deserves a debt of thanks for the work they do, helping to save lives.
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